Nikon may have moved its camera manufacturing to Thailand but it still makes lenses in Japan. According to a new report, it's adjusting how it manufactures those optics by consolidating its resources into two new factories.
YouTube channel Process X creates videos showing how a diverse range of products are made, and a new video takes viewers to Sigma's factory to show how a lens is manufactured.
Fujifilm is investing 4.5 billion yen (about $30 million) into its Ashigara Site at the Kanagawa Factory in Japan in order to boost its Instax film production capacity by 20%.
Gene Nagata of Potato Jet, a self-described "professionally unprofessional potato with way too many cameras," traveled to Germany to visit Arri and learn more about the company's extremely professional cameras, lenses, and other cinema gear.
Fujifilm Japan has published a video tour of one of its camera and lens factories. In total, the company has six production facilities, including four in Japan.
Nikon is considering reinvestment in mainland Japan manufacturing through a new expansion of its facility in Otawara City, which currently hosts its only remaining Japan-based optics factory.
Another month, another camera factory shutters its production. This time it's Canon with its remaining plant in China, and it can now be confirmed that it has gone further and will be closing -- ceasing all manufacturing and shutting the factory.
Nikon Japan has published a note indicating that it will be reducing its workforce in accordance to the latest State of Emergency issued by the Japanese government in response to rapidly rising COVID-19 cases and deaths.
There are reports that multiple Sony E-Mount cameras are going to come to market this year, with at least two recently registered in Japan. That said, a recent factory fire may be delaying their launch.
In late October, a massive fire completely destroyed the AKM parts factory in Japan. While mostly responsible for A/V parts manufacture, speculation that it could affect the camera industry popped up a few weeks later. A new notice of camera parts shortage from Sony appears to confirm that link.
Tamron Japan has issued a statement explaining that it will be extending the closure of two key factories through the end of 2020 because "the global market has not yet recovered" from the financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and demand is still depressed.
According to a multiple reports out of Japan, Canon has announced that it will be temporarily closing five of its factories due to supply shortages caused by the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak. The shutdown is scheduled to last approximately two weeks.
UK-based film and photo paper manufacturer ILFORD Photo has released a new short film titled "Behind the Film" that takes you inside the HARMAN technology factory in the village of Mobberley, England, where all of the ILFORD and Kentmere B&W film, photographic paper and chemicals are made.
Last month, Fujifilm announced the GFX 100, a game-changing 102-megapixel medium format mirrorless camera. cinema5D has released a 2-part documentary that gives us a behind-the-scenes look at how this monster of a camera came to be.
Sony has been receiving attention and praise in recent years for the quality of its sensors and the fact that it produces sensors for other heavyweight camera companies, including Nikon. But even though some of Nikon's CMOS sensors may be manufactured in Sony factories, Nikon actually spends a considerable amount of resources designing those high-end sensors.
Recently, we (Steven, John, and Bill of the podcast Studio C-41) traveled to Rochester, New York, to interview Josh Coon with The Kodakery (Kodak's podcast) and "EKTACHROME Super Fan" Matt Stoffel. We learned about George Eastman, how film is made in the Kodak factory, and Kodak’s response to the film resurgence.
Johnnie Behiri of cinema5D recently visited the Cartoni tripod factory in Rome, Italy. The 11.5-minute video above is a behind-the-scenes look at how the famous tripods are made by a small team at the family company.
The folks over at Negative Feedback recently paid a visit to one of the hallowed grounds of film photography: Kodak's sprawling headquarters and film factory in Rochester, New York. In the 12.5-minute video above, photographer George Muncey and his crew take us along on the private tour they were given.
Want to see how Sigma's highly acclaimed Art lenses are made? Johnnie Behiri of cinema5D recently had the honor of being the first journalist allowed to independently film inside Sigma's Art and cinema zoom lens factory. He documented his experience in the 7-minute video above.
Johnnie Behiri of cinema5D was recently invited to a private tour of the Fujifilm and Fujinon factory in Sendai, Japan, where Fujifilm cameras and lenses are manufactured. While there, he shot this 4-minute video showing what goes on inside the facility.
Photo Gear News recently visited the Sony factory in Chonburi, Thailand, where the highly-acclaimed Sony a9 mirrorless camera is being manufactured. This 6.5-minute video offers a behind-the-scenes look into the factory.
Want to see how RED makes its popular digital cameras that carry price tags of tens of thousands of dollars? The company released this 3-minute video that offers a behind-the-scenes look at its manufacturing and production facilities.
Nikon announced today that it will be shutting down its digital camera factory in the Jiangsu province China, blaming the rise of smartphones for the demise of the compact digital camera market.
Want to see how Leica's cameras are made these days? Photographer Richard Seymour made this 4-minute video that provides a beautiful look at how the new Leica M10 is built in Wetzlar, Germany.
Canon is planning to open a new camera factory in Japan by 2019 in an effort to move more of its production "back home," but this time it will be relying more on automation to lower the cost of domestic operations.
Sony only recently got its sensor business back on its feet after its main factory was heavily damaged by the the 2016 Kumamoto earthquakes in Japan. If you've been curious as to just how badly the Kumamoto plant was hit, check out the 8-minute video above showing the first public footage of the moments of destruction.
Want to see what goes on inside Sony's main factory for digital cameras and lenses? Here's a 4-minute video that shows how the Sony a7R II is assembled, tested, and boxed up at the Sony Digital Imaging factory in Chunburi, Thailand.
Film is not dead. In fact, it's a growth industry. No, we're not talking Tech or Medical type growth, but there is a clear and obvious resurgence of interest in film photography, and companies like ADOX are reacting to it by expanding and building new factories.
DJI's drone manufacturing factories are normally hidden from the public, but occasionally workers forget to delete test videos from memory cards before they ship in drones. These "found" videos offer a peek into the place where the world's most popular camera drones are made.
A few months ago, photographer Karl Taylor got a tour of the LEE filters factory where he got to see how these high quality filters are cast, tested, and dyed (by hand!)—he even got to dye one for himself. Fortunately, he took a camera man (and now us) along for the ride.